Gladiator
is arguably one of the best movies of all time, and the soundtrack that Hans
Zimmer puts together is a masterpiece.
Each song tell its own story even without watching the movie, but putting
the words being said to pictures in the film, begins to connect dots and make
perfect sense. There are two scenes in
which the music stood out and showed many examples of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
The movie
begins with a slow melody, and a man walking through a field. Right off the back this appeals to
pathos. This mysterious man walking
through a field raises so many questions, and with a slow melody that gives you
a sense of longing, really makes you wonder where he is going. In the background of this soft melody, very
faintly there is the sound of children playing, and laughing. This raises more questions now, and which
every question unanswered draws the listener in even more. Then the movie flashes to Russell Crowe’s
face, and this confirms the feelings of longing, you can tell that he misses
home. While listening to the beginning
you may not understand why you’re feeling this sense of longing. But the music is playing a huge role in
this. As Louis Gianetti says in Understanding Movies, “Moviegoers are not usually consciously aware
of how the sound affects them, but they are constantly manipulated by the
mixers synthesis.” The timing up to this
point has been spot on. Crowe’s look of
longing and hope matches that of the slow melody. The beat picks up as he’s walking through the
army ranks, this new beat sends off hope, and the feeling that all of the
soldiers love their commander. Watching
Crowe interact with the people conforms the feeling the music is giving
off. And again the timing is perfect has
he is walking away, synchronizing the movie to go along with the music. The Logos in this song is apparent from the
very beginning. The song is sang in
Latin, which scream Roman Empire.
The second
song that stuck out was during the final battle scene, between Marcus Aurelius
and the Emperor. Once Marcus kills the
emperor, and he is about to die, this song begins that immediately gives you
the sense of relief. Logos is shown
again through the use of Latin, and the slow high pitch singing. There is again lots of Pathos being heard. The emotions that are sparked are longing and
relief. Like he has been on this long
journey and it is finally over. Relating
to the movie, this is completely true.
The movie flashed back to that man walking through the field, and that longing
begins to creep back in to your mind. In
Understanding Movies, Gianetti says
that “pitch, volume, and temp of sound can strongly affect our responses to any
given noise.” The tempo begins to pick
up as the song goes on, making you feel like he has finally arrived to his
destination, and is happy. The name of
the song is Elysium. Russell Crowe’s
final destination is death, and he has finally reaches this place called
Elysium.
Both of
these songs have more than enough Ethos, seeing at the entire soundtrack was
produced by Hans Zimmer. This man is going to go down in music history with all
of the wonderful music he has make for very well known movies, such as The Lion King and The Thin Red Line. His
reputation is just known has making movie music gold, and to have his name on
this soundtrack says a lot.
This movie
soundtrack is getting five pickles for great use of all Ethos, Pathos, and
Logos. The movie was in perfect sync
with music, and did an overall great job of evoking the perfect emotions for
that particular scene.
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